MI6 missile attack: Irish dissidents suspected

One of the heads of Britain's anti-terrorist squad today called on the community of London to band together to fight the growing threat of terrorism in the capital, after what appeared to be a rocket-propelled grenade was launched at MI6's headquarters last night.

In a public appeal this morning, deputy assistant commissioner of the anti-terrorist branch Alan Fry called on Londoners to be vigilant to avoid a repeat of the attack, amid fears that dissident Irish republicans are starting a new terror campaign on the British mainland.

He said: "We know the community can defeat terrorism - we have proved that in the past - and once again we ask the community, we ask the people of London, we ask any visitors in the vicinity, to think about anything they saw, anything they thought was suspicious and to make it known to the police. We can defeat this."

The squad has set up a special telephone hotline on which members of the public can leave any information about the attack at MI6. Mr Fry also urged Londoners to use the traditional 999 emergency call if they spotted any suspicious packages or activity in other parts of the city.

He confirmed that anti-terrorist experts, police exhibits officers and crime specialists were currently in the building, looking for evidence of the type of weapon used. A number of theories already suggest it may have been a rocket-propelled grenade.

Mr Fry said other teams were combing the area up to 500 metres around the building, including the nearby rail tracks, in an effort to discover where the weapon was launched from. He said this process would take "many hours", but any conclusions would be made public as soon as possible.

Dissident Irish republicans are thought to be behind the explosion. Terrorism expert Mike Yardley said if the device used was, as suspected, a rocket-propelled grenade, it was one Irish terrorists are known to use.

There was no coded warning of the kind that usually precedes dissident republican bombings, because it was a "different kind" of attack, Mr Yardley said. "This was an attack late at night and it would seem it was an attack designed not to create casualties, it was an attack for effect. This was different to a static bombing campaign."

The Real IRA have been held responsible for most recent mainland attacks. The organisation declared a ceasefire after the August 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people. But it has been linked to a series of attacks this year - at least two of them in London: at Hammersmith Bridge in June and a west London underground line in July.

The group was formed after a split in late 1997 from the Provisional IRA because of fierce opposition to the peace process strategy of the Sinn Fein leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

The IRA's quartermaster general, one of the top bomb-makers and in charge of all the secret arms dumps, was among those who walked away to form the group. Two years after Omagh, the group's numbers are increasing at a worrying level, according to security chiefs in Northern Ireland.

Staff arrived back at work at the MI6 building late this morning and train services, disrupted during this morning's rush hour, slowly began to return to normal. Mainline routes at Waterloo were back up-and-running at 11am and Eurostar was expected to follow at noon.

Mr Fry said his officers were working towards having all rail services back in operation before this evening's rush hour. He hoped to have all roads surrounding the building open by late afternoon.

MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, is situated on the south bank of the Thames waterfront, near Battersea. The flamboyant building was featured in the most recent James Bond movie The World is Not Enough - when it was the target of a terrorist bomb.